Tom Daley & Dustin Lance Black accused of “baby trafficking” by unhinged transphobe

Transphobic activist Posie Parker has accused gay Olympic diver Tom Daley and gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black of “baby trafficking” because the married same-sex couple worked with a surrogate to have two children and build their family.

Parker’s comments echoed other right-wing disapproval of surrogacy. Although about 4,000 surrogate births occur in the U.S. each year, the birth method remains controversial. Nonetheless, it is used by many couples worldwide who otherwise face difficulties having children. Daley and Black have explained and defended their surrogacy in the past.

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Black was interviewed at the Paris Olympic Summer Games by the BBC after his husband won a silver medal in the men’s 10-meter synchronized diving event. Black told the BBC that it was “so special” that their children witnessed Daley’s victory.

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Parker, whose birth name is Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, responded to the BBC’s social media post, which contained a video of the interview, by writing, “Baby trafficking should not be celebrated or normalized. Those poor babies stolen from their bonded mother at birth, it’s as inhumane as it gets. We wouldn’t do this to dogs. I criticize all surrogacy, not just men who do it.”

Baby trafficking should not be celebrated or normalised. Those poor babies stolen from their bonded mother at birth, it’s as inhumane as it gets. We wouldn’t do this to dogs.

I criticise all surrogacy, not just men who do it.

— Kellie-Jay Keen (@ThePosieParker) July 29, 2024

In follow-up replies to commenters, Parker said that children born from surrogacy are “traumatized” from birth because they have no “maternal bond” with their gestational parent and no “birth story” about how they were conceived. She also called surrogacy the act of “selling babies.”

Parker isn’t the only anti-LGBTQ+ figure who has opposed surrogacy. Catholic Pope Francis referred to surrogacy as “despicable” and to gestational surrogates as a “uterus for rent” — he also called for a universal ban on the practice. Transphobic Daily Wire broadcasters Michael Knowles and Matt Walsh have referred to the practice as “gravely evil” and a “mad scientist horror,” respectively.

In 2018, Daley and Black discussed their childbirth journey in a six-episode podcast entitled Surrogacy: A Family Frontier, for BBC Radio Five Live. The podcast included “a whole spectrum of views around the matter – couples, surrogates, children born of surrogacy, anti-surrogacy activists, agents, lawyers,” The Guardian reported.

Though Daley is a U.K. citizen, Black explained U.S. laws around surrogacy are both complicated and more developed than in the U.K. and are designed to help ensure that gestational parents aren’t exploited.

In their case, Black explained that he and Daley opted for “host” surrogacy, where the gestational parent had no biological relationship to the baby. A surrogate from the U.S. carried an embryo — which came from a set of embryos fertilized by both Black and Daley. The eggs were provided by a separate U.S. donor. To comply with California law (where their first child was born), the surrogate had to pass numerous screenings to ensure her voluntary and informed participation.

“Do you know how many people in the U.S., having passed all the financial and medical tests, then pass the psychological one?” Black asked the aforementioned publication. “Two percent. These surrogates are very unusual people–there is an altruism, there is an understanding of family and wanting to pass that along, there is a generosity of spirit, there is a joy in building family for others. And there is a certain kind of woman that can do this and not have those feelings.”

Black, who participated in the podcast before the birth of his first, said at the time, “He’s going to know where he came from. He’s going to know it took two very special women to bring him into our family. He’s going to have every right and opportunity to meet and hang out with them. He’s going to know who he is and where he came from, so that there’s no opportunity for shame in his life. I hope we build a son who’s strong enough to stand up for other people.”

Parker previously held a “Let Women Speak” tour through the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. Her rally in Melbourne, Australia was joined by neo-Nazis who did Nazi salutes from the steps of the Victoria Capitol building. At another tour stop, Parker was doused with tomato juice by trans allies and fled the event soon after. Trans people and allies also helped shut down a transphobic event Parker tried to hold in New York City in 2022.

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